Medieval Mechanical Artillery

Conversion from html. – 23 p.Convention is to refer to non-gunpowder artillery as 'machines' or 'engines'. While some of the the large pieces used in the late medieval era can be traced to tension and torsion powered machines used in ancient times, the rotating-beam engine (most famous of which is the trébuchet) is unique to medieval warfare. Like modern artillery, medieval crew-operated weapons were of two general categories relating to tactical employment: indirect fire (throwing or lobbing) objects (projectiles) toward a target area, and directly shooting a missile (arrow/bolt or 'bullet') at a target. The size of such weapons and logistical demands of providing the consumable projectiles to be shot emphasized the use of such machines mainly for siege operations - employed both by the besiegers and the defenders. However, such machines, in their diminutive form, were occasionally used in field battles. Note that this page addresses only mechanical artillery and not the broader range of devices, such as towers and rams, employed in siege operations.